Loughborough accommodation

[Coldinhere]

DS has conditional offer from Loughborough to start in September. We need to get his halls choices in soon. Can anyone give us a heads up on what halls to lean towards/avoid - not catered, and preferably a more central location, DS is into football predominantly and doing a sports degree. Interested to hear peoples experiences.

My dd is at Lboro, well done to your dds, sure he will have a great experience.

ds played footy on starting but didn’t get into the uni team (v competitive) so has played and been v successful at his “other” sport.

Halls, when ds did it you had to apply in a window post results, not sure if that’s changed but it was stressful.

Most halls are on campus which is great. Range of prices, some catered, some not. Sc en-suite probs the most popular.

Ds was allocated one then was able to swap to a preferred one. Falk Egg (ds’s hall) and Telford are the cheapest. FE was fine, small room but decent size kitchen and great community spirit.

Prices range from £5k for FE to £10k for catered en-suite btw

With Loughborough you can't choose your accommodation until the day after results day so plenty of time to have a think. WHat budget do you want to stick to - some are more affordable and some much more expensive. There are a couple of good you tube videos ranking all the Halls on price, location etc so might be a good watch. DD joins in September too and a sports degree but she is an elite athlete and has been able to choose her accommodation early.

Dd is in Telford, it's one of the cheapest ones and self catered. I think it's fairly central - not sure really, but nothing seems a very far walk.

Yes maybe they've changed it this year because last year, you got a slot on results day or the day after, and had to have your list of priorities ready, then put your preferences in from what was available (there would always be a variety of catered options and prices, but no guarantee that your first choice will appear in your booking slot).

I note that my post says my dd is at Luffers but ofc it’s American footy playing DS all day lol 🏈🏈

My son was in Cayley New, worked for him as catered during week but self catering at weekends (so full kitchen), room had small double bed and sink, showers and toilet shared w flat mates. Cleaners weekly and hall staff available, Intermural sports were active, and hall socials. Cayley old is much cheaper (and not as nice), the self catering blocks seemed nice, towers is struggling somewhat (recent sewer issues has t helped). We were given a login slot the same day as results and had our list of accommodation ready. It’s a fab uni!!

Thank you for all of your comments - I'm sure he told me that you apply in early June and put down deposit, obviously then wait for results for allocation. We're just going through all the halls now to weigh them up but I guess fate will decide in the allocation! Good to hear all the good experiences with the uni though.

DS ( left last year) was in Telford and loved it.

really social, great IMS sports teams & central location.

Yeh I forgot to mention intra-mural sports - vey big. DS played footy for his hall and ultimate frisbee (!) and also wrote the plays for the hall American footy team (he played for the uni so couldn't play for his hall). You are always a member of the hall as well so you can play for them in future years.

Don't worry @Coldinhere about the allocation thing – like I say, DS was offered one room that was too £££, then another that he accepted, then he went onto a list of "I'd like to change" and was soon able to swap for his actual first choice of hall. All this was well before he actually went there.

DS is in first year and in Royce. It is catered Monday to Friday and he chose the cheapest room so has a single bed and shared bathroom. He absolutely loves it. It is really social and he's made great friends. In his opinion it is definitely not worth paying more for an ensuite!

William Morris 'Bill Mo till I die' (if you know, you know!!) Perfect location for walking into town and nights out at the union. Lots of swimmers allocated accommodation there due to proximity to the pool so sporty residents in the mix.

DS is in David Collett - sounds similar to those above, catered during the week, self cater weekends. he's got an extra large bed (which is one of the options you could ask for on application, he 6ft 2) in room sink, shared showers. All seem fairly clean a couple of times I've been up there!

He's also heavily into his halls sport - he's a rugby player, Cricket this term, He's also been playing squash and badminton and a bit of ulti frisbee too (Which he played before he got there) He settled very quickly and he's very happy.

That said his girlfriend has an ensuite, so I think he spends a fair amount of time there too ;-)

@Eggbert12345 a friend of mine was in Bill Mo for three years at Loughborough :)

@Coldinhere you are getting a nice range of views – it’s horses for courses isn’t it. We certainly couldn’t afford for DS to be in catered (cheapest catered next year is almost £7k and it can be £10k plus) but lots of people on here are very happy with catered.

A good thing IMO about Lboro is the range of prices for halls – there are four with rooms below £5.5k which isn't bad; a lot of ppl I know have DC in unis where the cheapest hall offering is about £7k.

Unless he is on a gap year or has a deferred place then you chose in August after results day.
DS took a gap year to get to Loughborough (I have lots of posts on here about his journey)…and hello Clary! He was only able to chose in June because of this. Everyone else gets given a slot after results day. Be prepared to not get the 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice, it’s apparently a bit chaotic.
DS is in Hazlerigg Rutland, he loves his hall. Deliberately picked it as it’s the smallest hall which suited him perfectly. His flat is completely made up of him and all 2nd/3rd year boys which was really tricky at the start as he never got the flat bonding experience that everyone else got.
He has loved his first year though and was definitely the right decision to apply again to get his dream uni and course.

I think the June thing is that you have to register for your slot then, I guess you are confirming that you definitely want accommodation, but no actual allocation until results day. You don't need to pay a deposit at all (as far as I remember).

Yes, you're right, I've just checked and it's registering in June that you want accommodation and ranking your choices, but no allocation until after results.
Great to get the views of people who have been there, and reassuring that people have been happy with a range of halls. The reason I asked originally was because someone said to me that so much can hinge on what halls you get as first year (not necessarily just at Lboro, just generically at Uni), so it kind of scared me to do some research, as it was the one open day I couldn't go to with him so I hadn't seen any of them. But I think that hopefully there are lots of good options. He seems pretty settled on non-catered but would ideally like an en-suite - however I personally don't think that's a deal breaker, especially in first year (and because we're paying for it!!). A little bit of compromise never hurt anyone and may mean a some appreciation for the comforts home offers! Now he just needs to finish out the exam period strong to get the grades!

That's all good then @Coldinhere just be aware that self-catered en-suite is probably the most popular option at Lboro. When DS messed up his application (he managed to lock himself out of the portal! but a) I am sure your DS won't and b) it all worked out) we were initially told deffo no ensuite and probably catered would be offered – which suggests that shared bathrooms and catered are less popular (as they were still available, if that makes sense).

It was £310 per term, fully catered, daily cleaning & bedding changed once per week when I was in Bill Morris back in the dark ages 😂

DS is in Elvyn Richards which is catered en-suite, and one of the most expensive (pretty much £10k for the year). It was his first choice due to location for his course and sport, and being catered Mon-Fri meant he didn’t have to worry about shopping and cooking as he has a pretty full schedule. Most of the catered halls have full kitchens to cook at weekends and socialise in so it’s the best of both really, and they all go for lunch and dinner together so catered can be a good way to meet people. But it is more expensive.
He’s had a great time but I’m sure it wouldn’t really have mattered which hall he ended up in.
One thing that is different to a lot of other universities we looked at is that it isn’t first come first served with accommodation. The accommodation is split and each department is allocated an amount in each hall so there is a mix of people from different courses, and although students with unconditional offers/deferred places choose first, then conditional firm choices on results day, then insurance and clearing a few days after, they have a quota for each phase so you stand the same chance of getting a particular type of accommodation regardless of which slot you are given to apply.
One last thing is that you can only list two of the same type in your preferences eg self catered en-suite, then you have to put other types so make sure you have some back up options.

Look at Hazlerigg Rutland (or Rigg Rutt) as they call it. It’s self catered and en-suite, they were DS’s preferences as well as he loves cooking and could cook for himself cheaper than the catered price.I think Robert Bakewell is a similar price.

What course is he hoping to do?

Thank you @bobbykirby , I feel like i've come full circle now and that there obviously lots of good choices, I will maybe speak to him about catered as an option, as I agreed it may be more sociable and less worry about shopping etc, and we will then leave the "sorting hat" to see what we end up with! But reassured that most people have had good experiences in a range of halls whether catered, uncatered or shared facilities.
@mrsconradfisher thanks, I'll add those to the list. He's hoping to do Sports Management.

I cannot believe that Falk Egg is still there. That was my hall in 1994, and it seemed old then. I did have a great time there, but I think you might be after more up to date recommendations!

It’s still good! I mean it’s the cheapest but fine. You get what you pay for obvs so the rooms are small with shared facs but clean and in good condition. Ds had a great year there.

It really depends what you can pay or want to pay haha. Ds got a loan around £6k and we added ££ up to the current figure; but if he had been in catered, or had en-suite, that would have eaten up most of his money.

If parents are happy to pay £8k or whatever for hall fees then the dc live off their min loan then there are more choices.

(FWIW in terms of aged halls, the one I was in in Bristol in the early 1980s, which seemed old then, is still going strong lol)

Just an update - he got Lboro!! He decided on The Holt for his accommodation. I'm not too sure because it is just outside the main campus and he won't be "in the thick of it" but he thinks that might suit him better as he's only a 10 min walk from the centre of campus and can opt out of things get too hectic. I'll trust his judgement that that works out well for him. Thanks for all the advice. X